Jim Carrey, in effect, reprises his Scrooge turn as the star of this moderate family comedy about an uptight guy whose heart is melted, ironically, by creatures from the extreme cold; it is very freely adapted from a classic children's book. Carrey plays Popper, and there are some laughs to be had when the children from his failed marriage address him curtly by his surname: they are very much not calling him "poppa". Popper is a hard-hearted, grasping property mogul with a queasy, sleazy line in sweet-talking people into selling him their real estate so he can redevelop it in all sorts of crass ways. Yet an establishing sequence shows us that he was turned into this character through being neglected by his absentee dad, a globe-trotting explorer, who kept in touch – or failed to keep in touch – through a ham radio. On his deathbed, this ancient dad (the movie keeps him well out of sight, perhaps unsure as to whether he should be considered a good guy or a bad guy) sends him a crate full of live penguins; having to care for these adorable creatures naturally loosens Popper up, and reawakens his relationship with his own family and ex-wife, played by that dependable trouper Carla Gugino. Of course, Popper has a sort of 101 Dalmatians relationship with the penguins, and the Cruella De Vil figure is the guy from the zoo who wants to take them into care – although there is something uncomfortable in the way this film has to configure the zookeeper as the villain. As family entertainment for the summer holidays it isn't bad, and Britain's Ophelia Lovibond does well as Popper's perky assistant, though Carrey is fundamentally subdued.